In the construction of commercial and residential buildings, the cost of labor is a significant cost factor and, accordingly, the speed with which the construction worker proceeds is significant. While building materials and tools that increase the efficient use of time of the construction worker are desirable, the structural integrity of the construction must not be compromised.
Interior wall construction with the use of vertical metal wall studs and horizontal metal channel-shaped runners is common. The runners and studs are assembled into a frame structure that is secured to floors and ceilings, and the frame structure is covered with drywall construction panels or the like to form a wall surface. Assembly of the frame structure can be tedious. According to one method, narrow slots are formed at the upper and lower ends of the metal wall stud. The side walls of the channel-shaped runners are fitted in the slots and metal screws are used to fix adjacent portions of the side walls and metal wall studs. The resultant wall assembly is satisfactory structurally but, nonetheless, slow in construction. The upper and lower ends of the wall studs are fixed to the runners. This can be problematic upon thermal expansion and contraction of building walls.